My invention relates to an extendible parking guide with an overhead track which provides a visual guide for positioning a motor vehicle in an enclosed garage or similar parking area.
The challenge of parking a motor vehicle such h as a passenger automobile, a minivan or sport utility vehicle (SUV), in an enclosed garage is faced by millions of drivers every day. The size of the typical residential garage and the amount of space available for parking vehicles is usually limited, and parking often requires some degree of precision. The penalty for improperly parking a vehicle may be damage to the vehicle, the garage's walls or door, or even injury to the driver and/or passengers.
Numerous solutions to the parking challenge have been devised, ranging from the simple to the complex. Home-grown solutions, such as tying a tennis ball or ping pong ball to a string and dangling the ball from the ceiling, while simple, suffer from disadvantages:
a. mounting of the string to the ceiling of the garage is tricky, requiring trial and error to properly attach the string to the ceiling in the optimal location; PA1 b. the string or ball may come loose or be accidentally tugged, making the system inaccurate as a location guide; PA1 c. the ball connected to a string is often misinterpreted by children to be a toy and often invites them to play and damage the system; PA1 d. the string and ball are sometimes assembled in a flimsy manner and may be easily damaged by wind or the wiper blades of a vehicle. PA1 a. The extendible parking guide can be assembled to varying lengths which can accommodate garages with ceilings of varying height and vehicles of varying height; PA1 b. The extendible parking guide, once assembled by the user, stays a fixed length and is difficult to accidentally adjust, compared to ball and string systems or other systems; PA1 c. The extendible parking guide is somewhat rigid, resisting damage caused by wind or windshield wipers; PA1 d. The overhead track is installed on a garage's ceiling over a vehicle's windshield parallel to the length of the vehicle, and allows lateral positioning of the extendible parking guide, reducing the need for precision in attaching the parking guide to the ceiling; PA1 e. The overhead track works together with the extendible parking guide to easily position the device so that it makes contact with a vehicle's windshield; PA1 f. The extendible parking guide and the overhead track are easy to assemble and install; PA1 g. The extendible parking guide and overhead track are simple in design and relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,296 (Glitz et al.) proposes a Retractable Parking Aid which is sturdier than ball and string systems, is somewhat easier to install and is adjustable. However, optimal placement on a garage's ceiling is still tricky, and the aid can be accidentally tugged, making the aid inaccurate as a location guide.